Brief Discussion of Related Art
Heart (cardiac) rhythm disorders are common and represent significant causes of morbidity and death throughout the world. Malfunction of the electrical system in the heart represents a proximate cause of heart rhythm disorders. Heart rhythm disorders exist in many forms, of which the most complex and difficult to treat are atrial fibrillation (AF), ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF). Other rhythm disorders are more simple to treat, but may also be clinically significant including atrial tachycardia (AT), supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), atrial flutter (AFL), supraventricular ectopic complexes/beats (SVE) and premature ventricular complexes/beats (PVC).
Previously, treatment of heart rhythm disorders—particularly complex rhythm disorders of AF, VF and polymorphic VT—has been difficult because the location in the heart that harbors the source of the heart rhythm disorder could not be identified. There have been various theories of how complex rhythm disorders function and clinical applications for treating these complex rhythm disorders. However, none of the applications proved fruitful in the treatment of complex rhythm disorders.
Recently, there has been a breakthrough discovery that for the first time identified sources associated with complex heart rhythm disorders. This technological breakthrough successfully reconstructed cardiac activation information (onset times) in signals obtained from electrodes of catheters introduced into patients' heart to identify rotational activation patterns (rotational sources), centrifugal activations or other centrifugal propagation (focal sources) that cause a large percentage of the heart rhythm disorders worldwide. Treatment of the heart rhythm disorders including complex rhythm disorders can thus be targeted to the rotational sources in the patients' heart to eliminate the heart rhythm disorders. Such treatment can be successfully delivered by ablation, for example.
While a rotational source of a complex heart rhythm disorder can be identified as described above, the identification of a rotational source in a polar or remote region of the heart relative to the position of the catheter as delivered into the organ of the patient, and the determination of the likely location of the rotational source in the patient's organ have not been identified. In some instances, two or more rotational sources may be continuously rotating in a patient's heart. While, the rotational sources may be apparent if the sources are not remotely located, it is not known how to discern, locate and identify these rotors that exist in polar and/or remote regions relative to the catheter and/or its location and further, relative to sensors of a catheter, not readily discernible on a grid representation of the cardiac information signals.
There are no known systems or methods to determine the approximate location of a remote and/or polar rotational, centrifugal or focal source(s) associated with a heart rhythm disorder, relative to a catheter and/or sensors, including the approximate rotational path of a processing rotational source as associated with a complex cardiac rhythm disorder.